Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

[Domiel Angelus]

A couple of years ago when the newest version of GURPS has come out we were trying it out for the first time; my dad who was the GM set a necromancer out on us to try for a TPK.

This necromancer was very bad at his job and plunged his fist in the back of my back trying to find organs to pull out or squish, and managed to critically fail.
My character at the time was a dual wielding swashbuckler type and with a big grin on my face I shouted "You're a failure as an evil person" flipped over his back and stabbed through him with both blades, killing him instantly.

[Otaku]

Beginning with the story I should have started with because it is memorable (not quite "most memorable") and the campaign it came from ended up with multiple such moments (one was listed in a huge mess of a post earlier).

Campaign Setting: Third Edition, Revised. GM wanted a TL3 to 4 setting with elements common to fantasy (like Orcs) but lacking magic. Culture was pseudo-medieval Europe, with various justifications for why standing armies were relatively small but regularly bulked up with hired mercenaries. Fantasy races that weren't inherently magical (Orcs, Ogres, Goblins, etc.) were adapted to the setting.

Players: My High School gaming group. I believe this occurred during the GM's Senior year. The most experienced player (and a GM for different campaigns) was also a Senior. His younger brother was a Freshmen, and less experienced with gaming. There was another Freshmen (acquaintance to all of us, friend of the younger brother) who was probably the most green. I was a Junior.

Characters: All PCs (at least initially) were mercenaries. Characters were 100 to 150 points (range is due to fading memory XD). The Senior built a beefier warrior type trying to become a landed knight. Made sure to take Combat Reflexes, but skipped High Pain Threshold to afford either one or two levels of Toughness (in 3e humans were allowed DR 1 for 10 points and DR 2 for 25). His younger brother ran a goblin spearman; quick but not very strong. The other Freshman ran someone I don't remember. I built an archer.

Our First Adventure: It wasn't a TPK, but it was about as close as our groups tended to come.

Our first job as mercenaries was to slay an ogre (its DR was a bit higher than default, but it wore no armor) that had been terrorizing the villages in a moderately sized kingdom. It was strong enough to wield a Great Axe without penalty in each hand and as we found out later, had HT 16 and I think Extra Hit Points. He might have even been strong enough (under 3e rules) to not just wield a great axe one-handed, in each hand... but to do so without having to re-ready. Even if not... when he hit, he hit hard.

Our front line fighters (the Senior and the non-sibling Freshmen) were almost instantly forced on the defensive... because neither of them had High Pain Threshold; the Senior had "helped" the other two with their characters! With the ogre's ST, HT, and HP his simple tactics resulted shock penalties even through the PC's armor, making it hard for them to land a blow. No one managed to hit hard enough, in a vital enough area, to do the damage needed to knock it down... while it managed to flatten our front line fighters and the goblin that was attacking from the rear.

The GM allowed my archer a decent firing position not too far away. I peppered the ogre with arrows, and while most did just 1-2 points of damage, I did most of the damage to the ogre. Thankfully my archer brought extra arrows! As the last of the melee fighters fell, the pin-cushioned ogre turned his attention to me, charging. I can't remember if I misunderstood, just panicked, or was feeling overconfident, but instead of running I stood my ground, though most turns were spent All Out Defending.

The ogre finally started failing various checks and passed out! I hadn't taken any damage! I beheaded him with one of his own axes and then attended the others, who were alive but unconscious. The characters belonging to the brothers avoided crippling injuries, but were laid up (in game time) for 2-3 months, making healing rolls. The player whose character I couldn't remember? Failed various crippling rolls, losing 1-2 points of IQ and was just retired. He talked the GM into randomly letting him roll up his next character (again, this was 3e) and managed like a 200 or 300 point character! My own character presented the severed head to the king and while the others recovered and took advantage of the down time to improve some skills... like First Aid

[cybermancer2k1]

A couple come to mind, which happened during a Space game I ran years ago:

• A group of terrorists had targeted the party and were trying to get into their ATV to kill them. The combat monsters had moved outside to engage the main force, leaving only the noncombatant doctor and the small alien inside. One terrorist managed to sneak past the combat monsters and get into the ATV through the roof hatch. As he dropped in on a surprised doctor and her charge, she grabs a nearby laser rifle in a panic, fires without aiming and without any weapon skill whatsoever, rolls a Critical Hit, and takes the terrorist's leg off. She later did this again vs. a giant alligator that surprised her.
  
  
• Near the end of their quest, the group was in an abandoned town fighting a demon that had been summoned by a target in a Lousiana swamp. The demon had successfully cast a Reverse Missiles spell, rendering the group's guns useless. The main combat monster decides since he was wearing powered armor with a jet pack, he would simply launch himself at full speed at the demon in order to knock it off its feet. The resulting exchange between me and the player:
  
  Me: "So you're going to fly straight at the demon?"
  Player: "Yes."
  Me: "In a straight line, as fast as you can?"
  Player: "Yes."
  Me: "No weapons firing, nothing?"
  Player: "Yep. Bare-handed."
  Me: "So you're basically a missile..."
  
  He ended up doing no harm to the demon whatsoever but taking out two storage buildings and most of a house before coming to a stop, unconscious.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by cybermancer2k1

• Near the end of their quest, the group was in an abandoned town fighting a demon that had been summoned by a target in a Lousiana swamp. The demon had successfully cast a Reverse Missiles spell, rendering the group's guns useless. The main combat monster decides since he was wearing powered armor with a jet pack, he would simply launch himself at full speed at the demon in order to knock it off its feet. The resulting exchange between me and the player:
  
  Me: "So you're going to fly straight at the demon?"
  Player: "Yes."
  Me: "In a straight line, as fast as you can?"
  Player: "Yes."
  Me: "No weapons firing, nothing?"
  Player: "Yep. Bare-handed."
  Me: "So you're basically a missile..."
  
  He ended up doing no harm to the demon whatsoever but taking out two storage buildings and most of a house before coming to a stop, unconscious.

Can you explain that one? Right now it sounds like you're bragging about succeeding in your Fast-Talk roll against your players to get them to accept a bad ruling. ;)

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Otaku

Can you explain that one? Right now it sounds like you're bragging about succeeding in your Fast-Talk roll against your players to get them to accept a bad ruling. ;)

Actually, the very skill the player was using was Human Missile, meaning the ruling was quite accurate.

[goipsmeistah]

the entire campaign (BPRD) to this point was building to a confrontation with the big bad (Dracula). so they finally know where he is theyve fought past his henchmen and are face to face with him. and he calmly invites them to come visit with him. never seen such white faces. they were terrified.

[Engurrand]

Running a modern urban fantasy campaign centered around the approaching apocalypse. My group of four players, playing powerful sorcerers, discover early on they're destined to inherit the titles of War, Famine, Pestilence and Death (the four horsemen of the apocalypse). In defiance of that destiny, they fumble, battle, bludgeon and crawl in typical PC fashion through three years campaigning, trying to avert the apocalypse by fighting their enemies in battlefields all over the world.

As the final hours draw nigh, they meet with another party of relatively new PCs to form a strategy for the final conflict. In the course of the discussion they have to explain some of what they've done throughout the campaign. As they sit there, reflecting on the swath of destruction they've left across five continents, the only guy who's been with the group since the beginning suddenly sits back, his eyes go wide as he says:

"Holy crap. We've been the bad guys all along."

[cybermancer2k1]

Originally Posted by Otaku

Can you explain that one? Right now it sounds like you're bragging about succeeding in your Fast-Talk roll against your players to get them to accept a bad ruling. ;)

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Actually, the very skill the player was using was Human Missile, meaning the ruling was quite accurate.

Nereidalbel is correct. I don't set out to harm my PCs, but I don't shield them from the consequences of their decisions, either. And it was memorable; the players laughed about that one for weeks.

[arnej]

I was running my fantasy game, and a Jay was running Dolon, a mage. Dolon was trying to arrange covert transport for the party out of town. He was meeting with a smuggler on his ship.

Dolon: "I'll need transport for six of us."
Smuggler: rattles off a price
Dolon doesn't flinch. Smuggler realizes he's got a live one!
Smuggler: "Let me check with my first mate to make sure we can do that."
Smuggler calls in some guy
Dolon: "Oh, and we have horses, too."
Smuggler nods. "I'll have to check with my carpenter about that."
Smuggler calls in some other guy
GM: "This guy must be the carpenter - he's carrying a hammer."
Smuggler: "And we'll need to get paid up front..."
Jay to GM: "I concentrate."

At this point, the rest of the players looked at the mage's player bewildered. "What are you doing? What are you casting?"

Jay: "I'm getting the hell out of there!"

"Huh?"

While the other players had seen a successful negotiation, Jay had figured out that I was getting the pirates ready to jump him.

I have never felt so "in tune" with a player as that moment...

[corwyn]

I have two as GM, both involve:

The Greatest Archer who ever died.

An honest to God, Weaponmaster "Robin Hood was an amateur" archer, when confronting a mage was the only one who could see him. He took a shot, the arrow bounced back and winged the archer (Reverse Missile, minimum damage).

The archer asked himself, "Is he a better mage than I am an archer?" So, of course, he shot the mage again! It reflected back again, this time I gave him a dodge which he failed. Max damage, died on the spot.

Ep. 2. Same archer some time earlier, tracking an (undead) wyvern. The group sets up a camp as bait and waits. Sure enough, the Wyvern shows. The archer, the group's tactical leader (honest, in spite of these two inexplicable incidents) has given explicit instructions NOT to engage unless attacked. The plan is to follow it to it's lair and attack on the ground.

So everyone holds their breath, half expecting the impulsive rogue to attack, it's going, going...Then the archer shoots it. Everyone stares at him, confused, as the Wyvern turns, charges the archer and grapples him. Not able to use his bow or draw a weapon, head butts the beast. One crit failure later, an unconscious archer is carried away.

As it turns out, it was a pretty lucky thing since the Wyvern had no need to venom the victim so he was healthy-ish for a rescue attempt. :)

Adventure on the high seas

Just this past week as a player, I was playing a British officer and gentleman (Denis Nayland Smith, for those familiar with Fu Manchu) and a lady to whom I was attracted was being bothered by an eastern European "gentleman". His advances were unwanted so obviously I interceded. One critical failure Savoire-Faire roll later, I was challenged to a duel.

Of course, the cad became "ill" the day of the duel (he even had the ship's doctor vouch for him) and I was forced to fight his second, a norse man-mountain who had half a foot and about 50 pounds on me. I think the plan, plot-wise, was to get beaten and be nursed back to health by the lady. Didn't quite work out that way.

I took a chance in not retreating and got off a judo throw into a tree, staggering him. A few exchanges later, I was at 1 HP, a critical failure on his parry gave him -3 to attack. Another crippled his parrying arm. I offered him a chance to yield and he charged with an all-out attack. I defended, all-out attacked back for about 9 damage and he collapsed on his turn. After the victory, the lady swooned, I caught her, and she came to, and all was right with the world. I told the nord that I wished his master well and that I looked forward to seeing him on board after his recuperation. By dinner, the European had disappeared off the vessel. Alas. Of course, we also discovered herbs in his room which he had used to fake an illness so I felt better about the doctor, who I had assumed had been bribed.

That night, my money was no good at the bar and when I returned to my cabin, it was spotless and the nord volunteered his services as he was currently unemployed. All in all, seems like a nice chap.